A coalition bomb killed 12 Afghan police, and militants
kidnapped at least 15 medical staff in volatile Afghanistan on
Thursday, officials and reports said.
Major Matthew Hackathorn, a spokesman for the US-led coalition
forces, told Xinhua a coalition aircraft dropped a bomb in Waza
Khwa district of the southeastern Paktika province, destroyed two
trucks, and "killed all persons in them."
"An investigation was ongoing," he said.
A roadside bomb killed an Afghan soldier when some Afghan and
coalition troops were patrolling in the district, Hackthorn
said.
A coalition aircraft rushed to the scene and dropped the bomb as
some extremists were found there, he added.
Reports quoted provincial governor Akram Ekhpul Wak as saying 12
border police were killed by the mistaken bomb.
He said the provincial government would launch an investigation
into the incident.
However, coalition forces said in a latest statement that they
are confident the two trucks destroyed by coalition aircraft were
the two same ones carrying the extremists and fleeing the site.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed his shock and anger to
this deadly incident.
"I am extremely saddened by this tragic incident and I want an
immediate investigation to find out what exactly happened,"
Karzaisaid in a statement, which said at least 10 policemen were
killed in the bombing.
He said he has repeatedly asked coalition forces to take maximum
caution while carrying out operations.
Meanwhile, a bus carrying 15 medical staff was kidnapped by
unknown militants in the southern Kandahar province on Thursday
morning, head of the provincial refugee department told Xinhua.
A medical team of the department traveled by bus to a refugee
camp in Jarai district and was stopped by some militants on the
way, said Agha Jan Hazari.
However, Abdullah Fahim, the spokesman for Public Health
Ministry, said 20 persons were abducted in the incident, according
to reports.
Coalition forces said on Thursday that eight extremists were
killed in the eastern Kunar province.
Some extremists attacked coalition troops in Asadabad district
on Wednesday, and the troops responded with small arms, machine gun
fire and grenades, killing eight enemies.
The forces also said a coalition soldier, whose nationality was
yet to be announced, was killed on Wednesday by a Soviet-era mine
in Bermel district of Paktika province.
On Thursday morning, eight Afghan police were injured as a
suicide bomber detonated himself in a police checkpoint in the
southern Uruzgan province.
Hours later, a suicide bombing attack injured one NATO soldier
in the neighboring Kandahar province, a local Afghan commander
Ghulam Sakhi told Xinhua.
The attack occurred some 10 km east of Kandahar city, the
provincial capital, when some Afghan and NATO troops were passing
by.
The latest attacks and incidents are among a spate of rising
violence in Afghanistan, which has thrust it into its worst period
of bloodshed after the Taliban regime was toppled in late 2001.
Over 1,800 people, mostly Taliban militants, have been killed
this year in this central Asian country.
The number includes more than 80 foreign troops, most of whom
are Americans.
(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2006)
